The cover of this week’s Star may not seem as scandalous as they make it out to be: “Katie Holmes Drug Shocker!” but the reality is probably worse for Katie than a drug addiction. The story is all about how Katie is “addicted” Scientology auditing with those e-meter devices that are basically crude lie detectors. Former Scientologists say the auditing sessions with the e-meter, which lets off a low-level electrical charge, can be addicting and mind-altering. I wouldn’t find this story so ominous if I hadn’t just seen that interview with Kelly Preston spouting off about how L. Ron Hubbard claimed that the reactive mind is affected by someone’s birth experience. There’s some serious brainwashing going on with that cult.

Four years into Katie Holmes’ marriage to Tom Cruise, 48, her involvement with the controversial Church of Scientology still raises eyebrows. Now, in a world exclusive, several former Scientologists and experts have stepped forward to make a shocking claim to Star: Katie’s battery of Scientology treatments have an affect similar to heroin.

Although the FDA has taken the position that the “e-meter” device used in Scientology’s “auditing” or counseling sessions, serves no medical purpose, former Scientologists tell Star that it gives subjects a temporary feeling of euphoria, followed by a crash and a craving for more.

As subjects being audited hold metal cans connected to the device, “The e-meter emits a low-level electric charge that goes to the brain,” explains former Scientologist… Arnaldo Lerma. “In response to that stressful stimulation, the body releases endorphins, hormones that cause a pain-killing, mood-elevating effect.”

David Touretzky, a research at Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, says that auditing may also spark an endorphin release in another way. “One hypothesis is that there is an endorphin bump caused by the focused attention of the auditor,” Touretzky tells Star. “It’s socially rewarding.”

Either way, for Katie and thousands of other Scientologists, those endorphins can be a natural drug, Dr. Gregory A. Smith, a California addiction expert… tells Star

“Endorphins are natural painkillers in the brain that block pain receptors from within the body exactly the same way drugs like morphine kill pain from an external source,” Dr. Smith explains.

“So when you stimulate endorphin activity within the brain, you are doing the exact same thing as taking morphine or other opiates, such as heroin on opium. That feeling of a natural high can become addictive.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, January 31, 2010]

Here’s the thing, I doubt that this e-meter crap is more effective at helping people release endorphins than exercise or listening to music is. On its own the e-meter is just a mild current. The process of going through auditing and getting reprogrammed is probably addictive, though, because it’s designed to change a person’s entire world view and make them dependent on the auditor for validation. From what I can gather, auditing is similar to regression therapy in that people are encouraged to resolve negative experiences from their past. Only in Scientology they believe that a person has lived for millions of years and they coax them to come up with “memories” that stem back past their current lifetime. Here’s a description from a former Scientologist on what auditing did to her:

Now you have had hundreds of hours of Dianetics and Grade auditing. Your idea of what is real has completely changed. You know you are different from other people, because now you know that you have lived for millions of years. You know it is true because you’ve relived so many experiences in your auditing. You feel set apart from other people who have not yet discovered the truth. You want your family to experience the truth too, but you can’t tell them. They wouldn’t believe you. They have to experience it for themselves. You’re spending your time with other Scientologists now, because it’s uncomfortable to be around non-Scientologists. They don’t understand. Scientologists are the only ones who know what reality really is.

Now when your auditor asks you for an earlier similar incident, you don’t have to be coaxed into finding a picture. You know what to do. Now, as soon as the auditor asks the question, a picture appears. There is no longer any difference in your mind between something that happened yesterday, and something that happened 300 years ago, or 25,000 years ago, or a million years ago.

All Scientologists believe that these incidents they find in their auditing really happened to them. They believe that they have memories going back thousands of years, millions of years, even billions of years. This is encouraged by the auditing process, in which the preclear is repeatedly told, “What is true for you is true for you.” In practice, this means that the auditor validates as real anything the preclear comes up with in session, no matter how far-fetched it may be.

Moreover, the preclear is not allowed to discuss all of this with anyone but his auditor. Husbands and wives are not permitted to talk about what happens
in their auditing sessions. Friends are required to report on each other if someone talks about an incident from their auditing. So the preclear is left without any way of keeping himself anchored in the real world. There is no way to verify whether or not something is true or imaginary.

I found that woman’s story fascinating and if you’re interested in Scientology I would recommend you read more at the source. The process of “auditing” is way scarier than being addicted to the good feeling that the little lie detector device might give you. It’s aimed to have people question their entire sense of reality and to change their worldview. It’s mind control and a mental trap. No wonder Katie looks so tired and drawn all the time.

Whatever is wrong w/ her she really has changed since her marriage. She always looks tired, run down, sad. I remember when she was lively and beautiful. Now she doesn’t even bother to put on make-up to go out for a nice evening. So sad….

Something else just occurred to me- Do you think back when she did that hideous song and dance thing for Tom, and her dance on “So you Think You can dance”, she was experiencing an episode from her auditing that made her believe she was awesome? I can think of no other plausible explanation!

I think Scientology is a load of crap, but I also think many mainstream religions are as well. Especially when they get to the kids early in life and scare them with stories about hell and damnation, or stories of paradise and heaven. If that’s not brainwashing, tell me what it is. And before you do, remember that everyone’s belief system is valid to them and that they will look for the signs that validate it and dismiss the signs that it is not. Now go ahead. Defend your beliefs.

Horrible. It must be already hard for someone who entered the cult as an adult; imagine what Suri’s perception of the world might be in a few years! Celebrity child, spoiled AND raised as a scientologist. Don’t want to think about it.
Also, maybe that’s why Nicole Kidman doesn’t have much of a relationship with her adopted children: they grew up as scientologists, right?

Re: The IRS. The feds have tried to take away their non-profit status for YEARS. As you can imagine, the Scientology attorneys engage in all sorts of dodging techniques to waste time and money and, of course, beat their chests about the First Amendment, so that ultimately, the feds give up. I took tax in law school and read some of the appellate cases and the behavior of the Scientology attorneys was obviously borderline in terms of ethics (duhh..) The cases were kind of interesting, though, which is a lot to say for tax law.

Merry, generally, when one is a Scientologist, close relationships with outsiders are discouraged, because they supposedly bring you down. I would be willing to bet this is what’s going on with Nicole and her eldest children, as she seems to see them little.

I could almost understand desperate sad people like drug addicts, people confused about their sexuality, etc, seeking answers in a place like this that promises the moon (in exchange for your life savings) but I don’t get how a grown woman with a close family, a decent career, and any common sense could fall for it. It has to be ruining her life!

I have said it before, every horrid thing written about cos is true. A whole branch of my family is gone. The one who chose to leave was destroyed, financially, no wife, no kids, nothing. He is a cutoff. The rest of them live at the center in LA. Multiple marriages, forced cleaning the toilets with a toothbrush, assists, audits, everything is true.
Nicole isn’t allowed to see her older kids except maybe one free pass out once a year, if that.

I wonder if it’s along the lines of- they are normal people and then one day they are famous. They try to figure out “why me?” “why did I get lucky?” and Scientology gives them the answer. They are SPECIAL.

I think religion in itself can be a good thing it just depends on the person and who that person choses to lend their mind to. I come from a religious family but my parents taught me to read scripture for myself and come up with my own understanding of it. It’s not something I wear on my sleeve either. You don’t have to activly join a Church, Synogog, Mosque, or Temple to follow most religions. I am concerned though about Scientology. It’s not the type of religion that allows you to self study or follow on your own. They expect you to get the e-reading and other auditing and then you have to pay for it. They collect information shared in the auditing and use it against people. There are people living in servitude just to get Scientology classes for free. The church also sues people who post Scientology information documents on-line. Can you imagine another religious group sueing people for sharing information outside of their church? For that very reason I think the COS should have their religious non-tax status revoked. The COS is a cult and a business built on making money.

@Tiffany. That is terrible, I hope your family members get back to their previous lives someday, somehow.
Can I ask a few things? What do you mean by “multiple marriages”? And are kids subjected to this auditing thing, too?
My experience with scientologists is limited: once a friend of mine got into some intense conversation with a scientologist, they went on talking for more than an hour; she was all flirty ’cause the guy was cute and got kind of pissed at me for literally forcing her out the door. She actually defended the guy, saying he did make some valid points. That’s when I realized how dangerous these people are, they can gradually trick you into their cult, starting with “your so good, smart, intelligent, special”…scary.

Here we go. So my Grandfather remarries a wealthy dentist and has two kids. When the kids reach about 10 and 12, his wife leads them to cos(I will not capitalize the name of a cult).
They all have to do auditing. It gets pushed on family when they get their day off a year to see us, they try to do assists on us. Creepy, all weird and distant, secretive. I at the time worked next door to the cos center in Hollywood by chance.

Yes, the kids go through it all too and when they hit 18 they both get arranged marriages that break up quickly with another to follow right on the first marriage’s heels.

My Grandfather decides to leave. He is sent to be retrained in Florida, he is tortured, brainwashed, locked in a room. He finally gets free , but has to give up his wife, and doesn’t see his kids.

The family was wealthy, it is now gone. All to cos. I believe the remaining three are sea-org members with the billion year contract. They live in the building. When they do something wrong they have to do stuff like clean the floors with a toothbrush.

The girl tried to run away to another family member’s house after several panicked phone calls, she shows up at my mom’s house followed closely by???
Yes, the scientologists, who take her away back to the Hollywood building.
We haven’t heard from them since.

My grandfather got away with his life only. No money, no wordly possessions. Started from scratch. I have no hope for the other three. Both kids are on their third marriage, each only lasting a short time. The torture they put the members that try to “blow” the org is amazing. It’s like a freaking horror story come to life.

That’s why Nicole doesn’t see her kids, why Katie looks like that. It’s a bunch of mumbo jumbo that a Satanic worshiper dreamed up, a pulp fiction writer wanting money. They fleece you until your last dime is gone.
Check out the link someone posted the other day or operation clambake. Eye opening, especially the article with L. Ron’s son.

I don’t think religion is a good thing at all. I mean, if you need to ‘figure out’ how to be a good person, you’re probably a shitty person to begin with. The idea of heaven and an after life comes off, to me, as greedy. People want more that this life?? However short it may be, I’m not sure people realize all the things that had to happen in order for them to exist. All the relationships, sex, love.. So yeah, CO$ is crazy, but so are all other religions.

@ .49 I think your name is Yay but I can’t tell because it’s gumbled on my screen.

I think the problem with religion comes in when people force their beliefs on others. Personally I believe that evolution and God can co-exist but that’s just my view. I don’t think people who believe in heaven are thinking of greed. Maybe fear of the unknown and wanting to believe that death isn’t the end, that they don’t go into nothingness.

The e-meter kills me. It’s a hocus-pocus piece of cheap machinery that is given by an auditor. The funny thing is these auditors are nobodies. I read by an ex-scientologist. That people with barely any training are given these jobs. LOL

The interview with L. Ron’s son that someone linked really was riveting and eye opening, and the two posts above fit. That they steal a third of people’s money at a minimum.

L.Ron’s satanism and love of control his son said make sense.

It used to be impossible to find out much about Scientology before the internet, but now reading old published interviews with L.Ron’s son and seeing Tom Cruise on tape talking crazily about how he can solve car accidents with his super powers puts this into another category. I used to think Scientology was just some alternative thing but it’s pretty awful.

Mind controlling, money bilking, and based on a very dark and sinister way of doing everything. L.Ron’s son said in that interview, the actual teachings come from black magic and satanism only stretched out over a lifetime. A little razzle dazzle from science fiction and psychology pilfered for effect. Only the true purpose was to make L. Ron rich, to feed his love of control and help him destroy enemies.

If you think it’s just like Buddhism or Christianity but a little spacey, wait because more stuff is coming out.

South Park fought the good fight to start letting the world know but it’s not going to stop there. Paul Thomas Anderson and Paul Haggis are both rumored to want to do movies, someone will eventually.

Director Paul Haggis also already released a big, angry letter outing Scientology for it’s nasty practices and renounced the cult after 35 years of being involved. Stuff’s coming out.

I am no Marxist and I am definitely no communist. But this quotation Karl Marx made in 1843 is sth. to think about.

“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

I do believe that many people are in need of something they can believe in. As hope when your personal world is torn apart, as a guide line when you don’t know the way, as a desperate hunt for explaining things that maybe cannot be explained, even as an excuse for crimes.

And I do feel sad for all people who are addicted to a cult like Katie seems to be. Maybe she is addicted to this weird kind of feeling “loved” there. Really scary.

I fell for the Dianetics fad when the book first came out. After I made some inquiries, I started getting calls from some guy in Florida who wanted me to come stay at a “camp” there and be “cleared”. Once I was sufficiently molded into one of their robots, apparently, I was to return home and begin “clearing” people around me.

Then I found out that L.Ron was first and foremost a science-fiction author, and that he had faked his own death at least twice, and that a LOT of money mysteriously disappeared from the co$ each time he “died”.

I was in college at the time, and searching for the “meaning of life”, I guess you’d call it. Scientology and Dianetics – on the surface – made a lot of sense, and the guy who kept calling me talked it up very well. (They don’t mention Xenu and aliens and past life regression at first, for good reason!)

Now that I know so much more about this cult, and especially after reading Tiffany’s post above, I am SO thankful that I found out the truth before it was too late!

I totally know what this is about- I get the same peaceful, slightly floating feeling when I answer surveys, of all things Yes I know that’s fucked up, but in this case, it’s harmless. It’s having your mind cleared of all the junk that’s going on by some remote agency that gets you off.

You know cults are onto that shit; they typically attract overloaded, distressed types who crave either attention and approval.

Scientology is bullshit and you have to be as thick as three planks or as needy as the day is long to fall for it. Or VAIN. All religions centered on personal salvation appeal to vanity. God and the universe is all about you! Of course.

What sane person would sit there with metal cans in their hands while being “audited?!”

I want laugh with everyone else who gets the joke (majority of the world) except its sad that desperate people are so taken advantage of & actually believe this crap!

When L Rons own son came forward with what a psychiotic freak his father was wouldnt that be a red flag to these people/ Well they are so brain washed i guess they dont know their right foot from their left.

Why the American government hasnt looked into these “detox” centers and the abuse going on within scientology blows my mind.

Tiffany, thanks for sharing your story. I always suspected Nicole wasn’t allowed to see her children because she divorced Tom and left the religion. Certain people here have bashed her for not trying to maintain a closer relationship with them or for skirting around the issue when they are brought up in interviews. It is so obvious she is not allowed to talk about it or bring it up. Otherwise the limited opportunities she does see them would probably not happen at all. She was able to get out but at the risk of losing her kids. Katie is obviously in the same boat.

They sure do venture out from “COS circles” when it comes to publicity and promoting their Hollywood careers. Guess they are special members & have perks. Katie is not the good role model, poster boy Tom is. I suspect it’s a combo of unhappiness & surrender from her dumb involvement with him & COS from the beginning. Money and stardom (or lack of in her case) come with a price. Suri! She chased the wrong guy. Watch…next pics we see will be fabulous. Who really knows what weirdness is going on there!!!!

You know, I used to hate Katie Holmes, but seeing this post makes me feel really sorry for her. I wouldn’t want to be in her place for all the money, clothes (ugly, in her case), and shoes in the world. No thank you. I’ll take my normal life even if I have to shop at Kohls. Tiffany, God bless.

I’m really not in the habit of wasting much of my time feeling sorry for celebs, I enjoy reading gossip about them for entertainment – helps me unwind and it’s fun for me. but I don’t waste a lot of mental energy thinking about them one way or the other and their lives really don’t intrude on mine at all – except Katie for some reason.

I don’t see how she is ever going to get away from Tom and cos with Suri,they are just so dangerous and scary; they sure did a number on Nicole. I hate to imagine the stuff they have on Nicole that has bought her silence and made her give up her kids.

Nicole is an intelligent, well off, successful “A” grade celebrity in the public eye and if she didn’t get her kids out well what chance does Katie have of getting Suri out?

It’s hypnotism and this seems like a way for them to use what they get from the “subject” in these sessions,to manipulate them into staying,or speaking out against them. I would assume that Lisa Marie either did or failed in trying to convert M.J. into this madness. He was Jehovah and then I heard he tested out some other beliefs (after he met her). With his mother a devoted J.W. something strong must have pulled him away. They also believe in shunning family that do not believe and his mother meant so much to him.

I want to belive Katie looks so sad because she knows the Co$ is a crock of crap. I think she is stuck in a very bad situation, loves her daughter and does not know how to get out, yet. Maybe she needs to have lunch with Nichole. Oh yeah, that will never happen because Nichole has been “declared” or evil according to Co$.

Tiffany, thanks for sharing your story. Your posts have led me to read up on this crazy cult and I just can not believe the stories. It pains me to think that they prey on children and vulnerable people.

Just like the other cults we have seen in history (Branch Davidians, Manson Family, Heaven’s Gate, Peoples Temple, etc.) I am sure this cult will fall. Something will bring it down and I think a murder, lack of money or outing by ex-members will bring it down. We will just have to see.

Wow,scary. What do her parents think of all this and her family? Tom Cruise and Scientology have sucked out her whole person. At least you come down off heroin or other drugs and you don’t act like a fembot. Why is this acceptable in Hollywood? At least the drug-addicted celebs still have personalities.

Two Scientology stories:
A number of years ago, when I did not know anything about Scientology, talking to an acquiance on the telephone, he described COS more like a series of psychological lectures than a religious cult. I was going downtown in the city I live in and he said,”why don’t you drop by the centre and pick up some reading material?”He was not going to be there.To humour him,I said I would do that. I did not. Within an hour of returning home, he called and said that he checked and that I had not stopped by the centre.He sounded angry and demanded to know why I had not dropped by,and when could I go?..That was it.Never spoke with him again.

The other story involves the brother of a friend of mine. He was a star athetlete in high school and very bright. In university,he began to have problems figuring out his life. He was recruted by Scientology. He gave them what money he had and started selling things,soliciting money etc on the street for them. Eventually, his depression got the worse of him and he stopped being a big earner for them. They threw him out. After knocking down everything he valued and alienating him from his family and friends,he did not feel that he had any options. He killed himself.

For the record, the guy talking about the Mormon church is full of crap. It might be wacky, but I’ve known plenty of avid Mormons and former Mormons and all this conspiracy junk is just wrong. You can leave. You might lose friends, but not because some Big Brother is orchestrating it. Probably just because you have less in common.
Sorry to vent, but I just came from another comment thread that was throwing out nutso Mormon theories. COS is so much weirder than them.

Excuse me Liesl, I am not full of crap. I know exactly whereof I speak because my sister in law IS a Mormon, and I’ve had that mess shoved in my face for twenty years. So suckit.
And “leaving” gets you Excommunicated. An official term that the entire church abides by, and cuts you off forever. Including cutting you off from “Heaven”. So again, suckit.

#44 I know what you mean.
My husband and I were in Times Square when one of those Scientologists got ahold of him. I just walked away… hey you are in NYC you can be rude…anyway, he could not get away from this lady…she was very aggressive about Scientology and I finally rescued him by being rude again…ha!

I used to work for the c of s years ago as an executive. It took years to undo the damage to myself, but the damage inflicted upon others was staggering. The depth of deception is so perverse it can n be summed up simply on a blog entry.

The enter in conjunction with other factors over rme desires your brain and you soon forget that you were ever brainwashed, or that there is even something wrong.

Scientology is dangerous.

I knew some of the celebs, a few are in it because they are stupid and actually buy the crap. Te others cannnot leave and the c of s has their secrets stored away.

Late to the party – so CB probably won’t read this, but while you are somewhat correct on the policies of excommunication, you are wrong that it means all Mormons can’t talk to you as a result. Excommunication is only for outright anti-Mormon behavior or committing grievous sins like adultery or the like. Excommunication just denies you certain worshiping rights with the church. But there’s no law among Mormons that you can only be friends with practicing Mormons and can’t talk to excommunicated Mormons. How do I know this? My mom is Mormon. So while you are on the right-ish path, to make it sound like they are a cult similar to COS is just misleading. They’re intense and different, but they won’t destroy your life if you leave. They’ll just keep you from their services. Big difference.